4 ms·

Have you watched any of the depositions or testimony in this trial? I feel like the lawyers and Denton were the only people from Gawker who were taking this cas

Have you watched any of the depositions or testimony in this trial? I feel like the lawyers and Denton were the only people from Gawker who were taking this case seriously. Time and time again the hostility and outright contempt coming from the Gawker side only served to undermine their case. AJ Daulerio specifically, but even his subordinates and Gawker management were trying to out draw the lawyers every time they were questioned. They did not speak plainly and they were evasive. It's true that The Hulk had home field advantage here (and easily arguable that Gawker being from NYC hurt them even more than The Hulk being from Florida), but they did themselves no favors at all during the trial. It's like they gave up and sought to win in appeal.

wpietri 10y ago
Personally, I am definitely not interested in defending most of Gawker's behavior here. I think Denton is a heel, a reprobate, and frequently a fool. What I do care about is that people recognize that using money to silence reporting, however lowbrow and however nettlesome, is a step on the road to oligarchy. The 1st Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. Thiel here isn't trying to litigate an issue of concern to him. His only goal is to destroy a publisher, regardless of the merits of plaintiffs' complaints. Now there are plenty here who are fine with a little oligarchy, and some who would like quite a lot. If they want to openly argue for that, great. And plenty of people, me included, have contempt for Denton, and who will enjoy his eventual comeuppance. But as much as I'd like to see that, I don't want to see it come with a major chilling effect on our already-mostly-toothless tech press.
- anamoulous 10y ago
  I'm not making a value judgement on the merits of the case... what I'm saying is they failed to defend themselves adequately. This was a winnable case and if they had done a better job we wouldn't be having this conversation.
  - wpietri 10y ago
    Ah, interesting. Sorry I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying!

wpietri 10y ago

Personally, I am definitely not interested in defending most of Gawker's behavior here. I think Denton is a heel, a reprobate, and frequently a fool. What I do care about is that people recognize that using money to silence reporting, however lowbrow and however nettlesome, is a step on the road to oligarchy. The 1st Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. Thiel here isn't trying to litigate an issue of concern to him. His only goal is to destroy a publisher, regardless of the merits of plaintiffs' complaints. Now there are plenty here who are fine with a little oligarchy, and some who would like quite a lot. If they want to openly argue for that, great. And plenty of people, me included, have contempt for Denton, and who will enjoy his eventual comeuppance. But as much as I'd like to see that, I don't want to see it come with a major chilling effect on our already-mostly-toothless tech press.

anamoulous 10y ago
I'm not making a value judgement on the merits of the case... what I'm saying is they failed to defend themselves adequately. This was a winnable case and if they had done a better job we wouldn't be having this conversation.
- wpietri 10y ago
  Ah, interesting. Sorry I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying!